Iain Duncan Smith attacks critics of unpaid work scheme

Stacking supermarket shelves is better than dreaming of stardom via TV’s The X Factor, Iain Duncan Smith insists today as he mounts an extraordinary attack on critics of a flagship work experience scheme for benefit claimants.

The Work and Pensions Secretary reveals that thousands of youngsters on the dole have already secured jobs after taking part in a Government programme which offers two-month placements with leading employers — with more than half coming off benefits.

Human rights lawyers representing an unemployed graduate who objected to stacking shelves in budget store Poundland have led critics to liken the scheme to ‘slave labour’.

Success: The Work and Pensions Secretary reveals that thousands of youngsters on the dole have already secured jobs after taking part in a Government programme

Mr Duncan Smith argues that some of the country’s most successful businessmen — including former Tesco boss Sir Terry Leahy — started their careers on the shop floor.

Work, he says, can give people languishing on welfare handouts a sense of purpose and open up opportunities.

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Mr Duncan Smith argues that an obsession with celebrity risks breaking the link between ‘success and hard work’ — as well as indirectly fuelling mass immigration.

‘It is because of such attitudes that we have seen British businesses bringing in large numbers of foreign nationals to do jobs for which they cannot find people at home,’ he says.

Fantasy world: Iain Duncan Smith rallies against the belief that being a celebrity or appearing on the X Factor is the only route worth pursuing in life

According to the latest figures, 34,200 benefit claimants so far have taken work placements under the Government-led programme. Firms taking part include Tesco, Boots and Holland & Barrett.

Initial analysis of 1,300 cases shows that after 13 weeks, only 49 per cent remained on welfare handouts. Some stop claiming, but thousands are getting jobs.

However, Labour frontbencher John Woodcock is expected to warn today that while the scheme appears ‘shambolic’, his party must acknowledge its own failure on welfare reform and back the ‘something for something’ principle.

‘We must not be diverted by the inadequacies of one particular scheme into stepping back from the principle of increasing obligations placed on benefit claimants as we increase support available to them,’ he is expected to say.